Our Thanksgiving Feast

Our Thanksgiving Celebration:

Toys: Play Doh Gathering Activity with Alphabet Soup Shapes and play food, Lincoln Logs, and FP Barn and houses.

Snack: ( In the place of our snack, each student brought a part of our feast!  Thank you Moms for your support.)  "We all brought things for our class feast--that makes us friends!"

Craft Activity: American Indian headband, Pilgrim bonnets, and Pilgrim Hats.

Songs:
The Pilgrims and the Indians by Janeen Brady,
It's Autumn-Time,
"I'm a Turkey" by Jim Arnosky,
Over the River and Through the Woods.

We read the poem, On Thanksgiving Day, by Rochelle Nielsen-Barshun and talked about how they too could help their families at home in small ways.

On Thanksgiving Day
By Rochelle Nielsen-Barsuhn
I put rolls in a basket,
crisp and warm,
stirred the gravy,
buttered the corn.
I watched the turkey cook golden brown.
I mashed the potatoes while Mom sat down.
In fact,
I was such a big help today that before we bowed our heads to pray,
Mom whispered, "I'm thankful for you."

We reviewed the First Thanksgiving with these pictures (colored by my daughters). You can find and print them out them here (click on the purple link) or here: http://printables.scholastic.com/printables/detail/?id=28485

Indian Corn helped save the Pilgrims after their first crops did not grow. Samoset, Chief of the Massasoit Indians, and Squanto, an Indian who had traveled to England and spoke English well, taught the Pilgrims many things and helped them survive after the first harsh winter*. (Some credit him and the Indians for saving the Pilgrims and being sent by Heaven). Squanto taught them  how to tap the maple trees for sap, differentiate plants that were good to eat from those that were poisonous and which had medicinal powers, and how to plant the Indian corn by heaping the earth into low mounds with several corn kernels and fish in each mound. The decaying fish fertilized the corn. He also taught them to plant other crops with the corn.

*Over half of the 102 Pilgrims died the first Winter in America. There were four women alive in the spring and most of the fifty people remaining were the children.

Each child helped prepare for our Class Feast!

Today was a special preschool because we worked together to make a feast and remember the First Thanksgiving between the Pilgrims and the Indians (Native Americans--especially Chief Massasoit, Squanto, and Samoset ).

Trying new things:  We talked about trying "polite bites"of new things during our feast.  Lena tried cornbread muffins, Eva and Raegan tried yams, and Ben said he tried everything!

Our Blessings Game (where we passed around a glittery turkey and said one thing we are thankful for):  I'm Thankful for...
Tanner: Dad who flipped pancakes with my sister.
Ben: Cars
Zakai: Thanksgiving!
Harris: toys!
Maelo: My Mom and my Dad!
Lukas: movies
Lena: drinks
Raegan: Mommy and Daddy who make me feel better.
Eva: My Family and friends.
Anna: Lego Princesses








Some of our favorite Thanksgiving Books:
The Most Thankful Thing by Lisa McCourt, Ill. by Cyd Moore (Scholastic)
The Story of the Pilgrims by Katherine Ross, Ill. by Carolyn Croll
Arthur's Thanksgiving by Marc Brown
It's Thanksgiving by Jack Prelutsky, Ill. by Marilyn Hafner
Thanksgiving With Me by Margaret Willey, Ill. by Lloyd Bloom
The Night Before Thanksgiving by Natasha Wing, Ill. by Tammie Lyon
The First Thanksgiving Feast by Joan Anderson, Phots by George Anacona
The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George, Ill. by Thomas Locker
*Thanksgiving Day by Anne Rockwell, Ill. by Lizzy Rockwell
Sarah Morton's Day; A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl by Kate Waters, photos by Russ Kendall
The Pilgrims of Plymouth by Marica Sewall
Brother Eagle, Sister Sky Ill. by Susan Jeffers
I Am The Turkey (I Can Read! 2) by Michelle Sobel Sprin, Ill. by Joy Allen
10 Fat Turkey's by Tony Johnston, Ill. by Rich Deas
All the Places to Love by Patricia Maclachlan, Paintings by Mike Wimmer
Thank you, Grandpa by Lynn Ploude, Ill. by Jason Cockcroft
Grandad's Prayers of the Earth by Douglas Wood, Ill. by P.J. Lynch

Online fun--Thanksgiving Websites:

• Hubbard's Cupboard--The First Thanksgiving
• Scholastic page on The First Thanksgiving (great wealth of information and pictures)
• First School--Alphabet Printable Activities, "Turkey"

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Enjoy your turkey and counting your blessings this year.